Policy Design For Sustainability In Mexico: Incorporating The Ecosystem Services Perspective

BALVANERA, P.; GALÁN, C. ; CASTELLARINI, F

Oakland, Ca. USA

Congreso; 1st. North America Congress for Conservation Biology; 2012

SCB

Satisfying the needs of this generation without jeopardizing those of the next one implies sustaining the flow of benefits from ecosystems to societies as well as the processes that underpin them. The ecosystem services perspective allows to integrate these two strategies and to identify what cross-sectoral policies are needed to do so. Here we present a document for federal, state and municipal decision makers in Mexico that draws lessons from an interdisciplinary project on ecosystem services at the country level. We build a simple conceptual framework to show the tight interconnections between the functioning of ecosystems and the satisfaction of societal needs. We develop a step wise approach to assess what components of the ecosystems and which sectors of society are at stake by focusing on the northwestern part of the country. We conclude by suggesting ideal approaches to planning.